HOLLY CULP
Arts Editor

As a huge fan of the Star Wars films, I’ve never really ventured into what is known as “The Expanded Universe” composed of books, comics and video games that accentuate and expand the Star Wars mythology. I recently took up a friend’s recommendation to look into the world of Star Wars comic books.

The title suggested to me by the nice man at 8th Street Books and Comics, who knew instantly that I had little to no experience with comics aside from a childhood obsession with Betty and Veronica, was the Star Wars: Vector series.

Star Wars: Vector creates a storyline by compiling the issues of comics in which a single character appears. For the Vector series they chose the character of Celeste Morne, a Jedi who was first introduced in issue five of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, which becomes the first chapter of Vector. The following three chapters are made up of issues from the Dark Times, Rebellion and Legacy titles of Star Wars.

Celeste Morne is an interesting character because she comes into contact with nearly every major character over the span of 5,000 years. She first appears around 4,000 years before Darth Vader on the planet of Taris, a planet that is being overrun by a plague as well as a group of militant, invading nomads known as the Mandalorians.

On Taris, Celeste searches for an ancient Sith artifact known as the Muur Talisman for an elite group of Jedi called the Covenant.

When Celeste finds the talisman, the spirit of the ancient Sith lord named Karness Muur that resides within begins to possess her.

In an attempt to prevent herself from giving into the power of Karness Muur, Celeste has herself put in a state of stasis in an isolation chamber until the Covenant can help her, which they never get the chance to do because the planet she’s on gets blown to all hell and the chamber, along with Celeste and the talisman, is buried under mountains of ice for the next few millennia.

Fast forward 4,000 years later: the Republic has fallen and been replaced by Emperor Palpatine, with Darth Vader as his right-hand man. The isolation chamber that holds Celeste has been found and Darth Vader gets his hands on it. Obviously he wants the power of the talisman for himself, but Celeste doesn’t let that happen.

Celeste continues to live in isolation with nothing but Karness Muur’s whispers for company. Now free of the isolation chamber, she goes on to encounter Luke, Leia and eventually Cade Skywalker, an unwilling descendant of Luke’s who is not only a former Jedi, but a thief, smuggler and struggling drug addict.

Star Wars: Vector is a great starting point for anyone who is a fan of the films. The use of different Star Wars titles by different artists exposes the reader to new art in each chapter. Although in some chapters the art can be a little abraisive on the eyes, in others it is chilling and beautiful. If one was interested in expanding their knowledge, Vector is an easy, entertaining read.